Presskit 2019
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PRESSKIT 2019 Centre des monuments nationaux - Département du développement touristique William Roussel - [email protected] Emmanuelle Pardini - [email protected] www.tourisme.monuments-nationaux.f PRESENTATION WHO ARE WE ? UNESCO More than 10 million visitors! THE NATIONAL MONUMENTS DESIGNATED WORLD HERITAGE SITE BY For the first time in its history, the CMN has gone UNESCO over this symbolic threshold! The three most visited monuments are the Arc de Triomphe, the Mont-Saint- Did you know? Michel Abbey and the Sainte-Chapelle. In 1979, the first French sites were given UNESCO World Heritage status. These included Mont-Saint-Michel Abbey, Chartres Cathedral and the prehistoric sites of the France’s leading tourism operator Vézère Valley. 100 monuments throughout France! In 2018, new monuments joined the network: the villa E-1027 and the Château de Villers-Cotterêts, which is due to open in 2022. 61 parks and gardens Including six with France’s special label Jardins remarquables (‘Remarkable gardens’) and two with the label Arbres remarquables (‘Remarkable trees’). 74 bookshops Free entrance for youngsters! Minors under 18 and 18 - 25 years old (E.U residents) 80% self-financed An equalising system thanks to which lesser-known monuments can stay open every day of the year! DID YOU KNOW? ► CENTRE - LOIRE VALLEY, CHÂTEAU OF BOUGES BHV, Hermès and horseracing A SELECTION OF STORIES ABOUT THE NATIONAL MONUMENTS! Bouges was originally a rural manor house with a fortified castle, so not much relation to the world of luxury! In 1759, the castle was replaced by an elegant Italianate construction. During the 19th century, it changed hands several times and one of its owners was the Viguiers. ► OCCITANIE, CHÂTEAU OF MONTAL Guardian of the Mona Lisa Henry Viguier was Director of Bazar Hôtel de Ville, more commonly known now as BHV! He and his wife breathed life As the threat of war increased, the Mona Lisa was moved back into the château, purchasing some exceptional furniture from the Louvre on 28 August 1939. It was stored at Château to suit the setting. Henry Viguier was able to devote himself Montal as the risk of fire there was limited and it has vast to his love of horses, centring all his leisure pursuits as lord vaulted rooms on the ground floor. On 13 March 1943, a small of the manor around them: hunting, trekking, picnics and box registered as MNLP0 arrived at Montal. It was the Mona trips. He owned a stable of racehorses and was particularly ► PROVENCE, ABBEY OF MONTMAJOUR Lisa! In July 1944, fearing Allied bombardments, the team at fond of horse-drawn carriages and luxury saddlery, many of the château wrote “Musée du Louvre” in large white letters in these items designed by Hermès. You can still visit the stables, A landscape that inspired Vincent Van Gogh the adjoining field. The Château de Montal was never bombed saddlery and carriage rooms, clear illustrations of his passion. Vincent Van Gogh was fascinated by Montmajour Abbey, and, on 15 June 1945, the artworks made their way back to discovering it shortly after arriving in Arles. Although not very the capital ! Reduced price: €6,50; Full price: €8 www.chateau-bouges.fr/en/ interested in ancient monuments, he was captivated by these Reduced price: €6.50; Full price: €8 ruins in the middle of the vast plains, surrounded by a stunning ► ÎLE DE FRANCE CHÂTEAU OF RAMBOUILLET www.chateau-montal.fr/en/ - - , landscape. During the month of May 1888, he produced a Site of the first G6 series of drawings of the Abbey and its surroundings, known as As Buenos Aires is getting ready to host the next G20, did you “the Montmajour series”. know that the first G6, its ancestor, was held at the Château He also painted “Sunset at Montmajour”. This oil painting de Rambouillet in 1975? On the initiative of the French depicts an oak forest in the sunset, with the Abbey in the President, Valéry Giscard d’Estaing, the Heads of State from background. For a long time, the painting was not thought to the six leading countries in the world met here. It was the first be by Van Gogh, until it was authenticated in September 2013. example of “global governance”, obliging the great powers to It was the first work by the artist to be discovered since 1928, hold multilateral negotiations to find solutions to economic making it a unique event! problems. Reduced price: €6,50; Full price: €8 A reconstruction of the official dinner is shown in the large www.abbaye-montmajour.fr/en/ dining room in the château, the table laid according to the customs and protocol observed at the time. Reduced price: €7; Full price : €9 www.chateau-rambouillet.fr/en/ ► PROVENCE, ABBEY OF THORONET An example of contemporary architecture ► AUVERGNE, CHÂTEAU OF CHAREIL-CINTRAT It protects a great wine: Saint-Pourçain The purity and simplicity of volume, the same precepts that dictated the organisation of community life, inspired The château’s land, with vines growing on the hillside, is home generations of architects, including Corbusier. He came here to the Conservatory of ancient grape varieties. Here, old vine to find inspiration for the Couvent de la Tourette. He said of varieties that were once used in Saint-Pourçain wines, such as Thoronet Abbey: “To me it seems the very essence of what Saint Pierre Doré, Meslier, Melon, Pinot Blanc, etc. are given a monastery should be” and “Light and shade are the loud new life. Cultivated over two hectares of land, they preserve speakers of this truthful architecture.” The most notable the memory of the vineyard. contribution of Thoronet to the Couvent de la Tourette, Visiting the château and its painted interior takes you on a opened in 1960, is indeed the way that light is used. journey through the art and humanism of the Renaissance. Reduced price: €6,50; Full price: €8 Reduced price: €3,30; Full price: €3,50 www.le-thoronet.fr/en/ www.chareil-cintrat.fr/en/ ► ILE-DE-FRANCE, CHÂTEAU OF MAISONS ► AUVERGNE RHÔNE-ALPES, CHÂTEAU OF VOLTAIRE Backstage at the cinema The philosopher and the Russian Empress This château, whose architecture and décor inspired Versailles, AfterVoltaire had been at Ferney for five years, a correspondence often stands in for it in films. grew up between the philosopher and Catherine II, the young Empress of Russia, lasting for 15 years. On Voltaire’s death on During its secret life as a film star, the château has been the 30 May 1778, Catherine II expressed her wish to acquire his scene for: Isabelle Adjani in Queen Margot, Diane Keaton, library. Madame Denis, Voltaire’s niece and heir, accepted as plotting to assassinate Napoleon with Woody Allen in Love she did not want to leave this treasure to France. In August and Death, or Jean Marais and Jean Rochefort brandishing 1778, Voltaire’s library arrived in Saint Petersburg on a ship their swords in The Iron Mask. And let’s not forget Depardieu specially chartered by Catherine II. According to the catalogue, in Vatel and Diane Kruger as Marie- Antoinette in Farewell, it contained 6,814 volumes. It was initially kept at the Winter My Queen, or Uma Thurman, who filmed Dangerous Liaisons Palace, then the Hermitage, and is now in the National Library here. of Russia. Most recently, the Versailles series took advantage of its Reduced price: €6,50 €; Full price: €8 wonderful setting. www.chateau-ferney-voltaire.fr/en/ Reduced price: €6,50; Full price: €8 www.chateau-maisons.fr/en/ MEN AT WORK ! KNOW-HOW ENHANCE, RESTORE AND MAINTAIN TO BE PASSED ON TO FUTURE A WIDE VARIETY OF HIGHLY TECHNICAL GESTURES, GENERALLY OF GREAT GENERATIONS BEAUTY ► CENTRE-VAL DE LOIRE, ► HAUTS DE FRANCE, CASTLE OF VILLERS-COTTERÊTS CHÂTEAU OF AZAY-LE-RIDEAU Future International Centre for French Language Reconstructing the Renaissance chamber The château was built in the Renaissance, from 1532, by the The reconstruction of Philippe Lesbahy’s chamber is an king of France François I. This large building has the same important project, using archivist and iconographic studies characteristics as Fontainebleau château, which was built at to reconstruct the bed textiles. This restoration uncovered the same time. From the sixteenth century, the château was the craft of rush weaving, used in the matting on the walls. a royal residence and Louis XIV gave it to his brother, the In the Renaissance, the walls of the château were covered in Duke of Orléans, in 1661. The Sun King was a regular visitor to tapestries or rush mats, to keep out the cold. Although no the château, which he liked for hunting and partying. Buildings examples of rush mats remain in France, many documents were added in the eighteenth century (notably the covered (inventories, drawings, paintings) point to this method of jeu de paume court) and in the nineteenth century too. The insulation, which was also said to have therapeutic properties. château has kept much of its original layout and volume, The smell of the reeds was thought to expel bad moods and covering more than 23,000 m2. The CMN was chosen to cleanse the air. launch an effective cultural and touristic project centred on The bed on display does not date from the Renaissance – 16th this incredible site. Why was the theme of French Language century furniture is extremely rare – but from the 19th century. ► HAUTS DE FRANCE, VILLA CAVROIS chosen? Here, in 1539, the famous ruling of Villers-Cotterêts It illustrates the neo-Renaissance style in vogue around 1840, Rebirth of a monument was signed, establishing French as the official language of legal ► PARIS, HÔTEL DE LA MARINE which the Biencourt family, who owned the château at the and administrative services.